Halcyon Days
by Scabior's-Horcrux
Summary: Hermione learns that Ron has badly injured a snatcher near their camp. Not being able to just ignore it, she goes out and heals the snatcher. After that night, everything begins to change for the two of them.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, or locations in this. All rights belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. etc. **

**Please read and review! It's much appreciated.**

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><p>"Honestly, leave it to Ronald to talk an hour to fetch some water from the river." Hermione grumbled.<p>

She was pacing back and forth inside of the tent besides the wooden table that they did all of their research and eating off of. Harry was sitting at the table attempting to not get sick while he ate Hermione's mushroom soup while he watched her pace.

"You know how Ron is. He probably got a little lost." He said as he swallowed another spoonful of soup, making a look of disgust but quickly hid it when the bushy haired witch turned to glare at him.

"Now isn't the time to be getting lost in the forest!" Hermione snapped. "Oooh. I _knew_ I should've gone instead. What was I thinking in letting him leave?"

Since Hermione's wand was sticking out of her pocket, Harry stayed silent while she continued to rant and kept eating his soup in fear that her anger may escalate and he did not want to be at the end of her anger. Especially when it came down to Ron.

Hermione was still sore with the ginger-haired part of the trio. It had only been a week since he had returned with Harry with the locket destroyed and Godric's Gryffindor's sword. Despite that he had saved Harry's life and destroyed a horcrux, Ron was still barely forgiven for running out on them all of those weeks ago. He did spend most of his time trying to suck up to Hermione by agreeing with everything she said, offered to do things for her, and even went as far as complimenting on her dreadful cooking. All of it had nudge her in the right direction of forgiving him, but earlier in the evening when she was prepared to leave to retrieve water from the river, he suggested that he went instead.

That had sent Hermione back into her foul mood that she was in the first couple of days after he returned.

Even if she wasn't admitting it, it was plainly obvious that in the back of her mind she was in fear that he would leave and not return like before.

And Ron being gone for over an hour wasn't helping her mood.

Hermione didn't harvest any romantic feelings for the ginger like she used too back in school. Spending so many months camping and staying in the same tent as him had crushed all of those feelings. Because like a saying goes, you don't know someone until you've lived with them. Hermione still cared for him in a brotherly way as she did for Harry though. Whether if Ron harbored feelings for Hermione or not was unknown to her still.

"Maybe I should go look for hi-"

"NO!" Hermione shouted, interrupting Harry. Noticing that she reacted a little too loudly, she made an apologetic look and sat across the table from him. "It's too dangerous for you to leave the wards Harry, especially without your cloak." Which Ron was in current possession of. "We'll give him a half an hour longer and if he isn't back yet then I'll go look for him."

When Hermione was about to say more, she noticed Harry's eyes leave hers and look at something behind her. "No need too." He smiled and then nodded his head in the direction behind her.

Turning herself towards the direction Harry pointed out for her, she saw Ron stumble through the opening of the tent with the Invisibility cloak hooked on an arm that was bearing his wand, and his other hand was the bucket they used to keep their water. It was empty.

Hermione pushed back her relief and glowered at Ron as she marched towards him with Harry right behind her. "Did you forget what you left to go do Ronald?"

Ron jerked his head up, as if just now realizing that he was with his friends and not with someone else. And that's when both Hermione and Harry noticed that their friend was breathing heavily and a trickle of blood was flowing down the side of his face from his scalp, and parts of his clothing were singed.

"What happened?" Harry asked alarmed, grabbing the cloak and empty bucket from Ron while Hermione moved him to go sit over at the table.

"Ran into…" Ron raised a hand to signal them to wait for him to catch his breath. After a minute passed, he took in a final breath and sat upright with the same goofy smile that he always plastered on his face. "Ran into a snatcher on my way back."

"Just one?" Harry questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. I think there are some in the area and this one probably split up from the rest of them to cover more ground I suppose." Ron answered.

"How did he see you? Didn't you have the cloak on? How did you lose the snatcher?" Harry blurted out a couple of more questions. It was evident that he was excitedly curious about his friend's event with a snatcher. Hermione rolled her eyes, knowing that he was missing the most important question to be asked. "Did he follow you here?" She asked.

Ron looked anxiously between the two of them, not sure which questions he wanted to ask first. Knowing Hermione's temper of course, he looked at her. "No. I lost him a ways back but I still kept running to make sure I lost him in case he got back up."

"Wha-" Hermione began but her ginger-haired friend already looked back at Harry and began to tell his tale with eagerness.

"Well," The youngest Weasley boy began. "I was down at the river getting the water but I took off your cloak because I didn't want to get it wet."

"What?" Hermione butted him before he could continue. "A simple drying spell would've worked, you shouldn't take it off when you're-"

"I know! I know!" Ron waved his arms around, shushing her. "I didn't think about it. But after I filled up the bucket and left the river, I forgot to put back on the cloak and I'm not used to thinking about wearing it when walking around places, and then I heard something." He looked between Harry and Hermione to see that they were both anxiously waiting for him to continue. "I looked behind me and saw this guy standing there and I saw the red ribbon tied around his arm, which labels him as a snatcher; so I took off running. The bloody snatcher was firing curses left and right at me and he was fast too! I dropped the bucket and left it behind because it was slowing me down." Ron nodded over at the bucket that had a black scorch mark on one side of it.

"I didn't want to lead him back here and have him signal to the rest of his gang that I wasn't alone. I kept running in circles and over the place, almost getting myself lost. After he was getting closer and his curses were getting more dangerous, I turned on him - which he didn't expect - and I fired off a curse at him! You should've seen the look and his face when he saw me fire one at him!"

"Brilliant mate." Harry agreed and patted Ron on his arm. "What did you use on him?"

"Well…it was a spell that you used before." Ron's ear were turning red and looked down to floor at his feet. "It was the first thing that came into my head that I knew would stop him from chasing me."

"What spell did you use Ron?" Hermione's face turned serious. Why did she have a bad feeling that he had used an Unforgivable Curse on the snatcher?

"The spell Harry used on Malfoy last year in school." Ron kept his gaze on the floor. "S-Sectumsempra."

Harry didn't say anything, not sure if he should congratulate his friend for stopping a snatcher by using powerful magic, or to scorn him for using such a dark spell.

Hermione decided for him and choose the later.

"Sectumsempra!" Hermione rose from her sitting position next to Ron and glared down at him. "That's an _awful_ spell to use Ronald, even on a snatcher! What if you killed him?"

"I panicked! It was the first thing that went off in my head." Ron defended. "It's not like I thought 'Hmm. I haven't used any dark spells lately. Let me try this one!' Besides, he's a snatcher that's willing to sell any of us for gold, it's best off if he's probably dead anyhow."

Before Hermione could snap back at him, Harry cut him between them. "It's alright Ron, I know you didn't mean to use it."

Ron's gaze went from Hermione and to his other friend and his lips twitched upwards slightly. "Thanks mate." He cleared his throat and his eyes watched his fingers fumbled against each other nervously. "I took a little longer in getting back here because when I was almost back, I forgot the bucket and I went to go get it."

Hermione didn't say anything more to Ron as he went back into his previous mood and exaggerated to Harry every other detail about his run in with the snatcher, and Harry was enjoying listening to the tale from the looks of it. She couldn't believe that they were completely ignoring the idea of the man's health. It didn't matter that he was a friend or foe, he was probably out somewhere in the woods bleeding to death! It was one thing to accidentally cast a curse on someone, but to leave them behind without a second thought for their well-being? They were supposed to be stopping people that were like that. Not becoming them.

_Maybe if I can find him, I might be able to save him._ She thought. Most people would think she was stupid for going out of her way, risking her own safety, to go save an enemy. But she wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that that there was someone nearby injured badly, and she just sat there and did nothing.

Putting on a blank mask to hide the lie she was about to announce, she moved away from the table to pick up the Invisibility cloak and the empty bucket that was still useable.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked in alarm. "You're not going out there are you?"

Hermione sighed and wrapped the cloak around her, but left the hood down so her head was still visible. "We still need water Ronald."

"But it's dangerous out there!" He argued.

"Not anymore since you took care of that snatcher there isn't." She pointed out to him. When he didn't say anything, as he was most likely trying to think of another reason to come up with, she pulled the hood over her head and slipped out of the tent, completely invisible.

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><p>"Fuck!" Scabior snarled.<p>

He was such an idiot for allowing himself to be so caught up in chasing after the boy, that he didn't think to realize that the ginger would turn and fire a spell back at him. He had been unprepared for retaliation. Most people that he chased never bothered to look back much less cast spells at him. They were too busy trying to outrun him.

Now he was laying in the middle of the forest, bleeding to death. It's what he deserved after being so negligent.

He couldn't even heal himself. His wand was discarded somewhere nearby, but not in his view. It had flown from his hand after he was hit.

Scabior managed to lean himself up against a tree that was had only been a mere foot away after the curse had struck him. But even the slightest movement had pained him greatly. Whatever the curse was, did serious damage to him. Cuts and slices, both deep and shallow, were laced all over his body. The deeper cuts were on his abdomen and chest, while the lighter ones were on the rest of his body. It was a brilliant curse. Strike hardest were his organs were.

Thinking about it, Scabior was silently racking his mind to try and remember the curse that the boy had used. It was something that he had never heard of, and yet some boy that looked to be young enough to still be in school knew something as powerful and as dark as what was now causing him to slowly drain him of his blood. _What was that word the ginger had used?_ He thought. _Sistersimpa? No, no. Sectumsempra? That's it! If I see that boy again I'm going to fucking Sectumsempra his ass to hell and back and see how he likes it!_

He physically felt a sting of pain race through him as he realized that he wouldn't get the chance to see him again. He'd be dead soon.

Ignoring the stings of pain, he moved his head to get a better view of the scenery around him. Snow was on the ground, but he had already known that. There had been snow in these mountains for the past few months. His blood had formed a large pool of crimson that stained that beautiful white snow around that was growing ever so painfully by the minute. Scabior tried to keep his mind from thinking about it as he surveyed the flakes of snow that was falling through from tree branches high above him. All of the snow fell gracefully onto the ground around him as well as far as he could see into the darkened woods that barely allowed a few patches of moonlight to shine through here and there.

Scabior felt so out of place in the world around him.

_Snap!_

Scabior whipped his head to his left side and flinched, regretting his reflexes.

As he looked ahead of him, he didn't see anything. Not even an outline of an animal or a person. It couldn't have been his imagination. He had heard the sound of a snapping twig as plain as it was night. Yet, he couldn't see not a single sign that there was any around besides him. "I'm becoming delusional." Scabior murmured bitterly.

Scabior closed his eyes and silently hoped that it wouldn't be too much longer until he finally drifted into a never ending sleep. He didn't want to start losing his mind before he let unconsciousness could take him over.

Then, his ears twitched at the sound of footsteps crunching against the snowy ground. His eyes opened halfway only to once again meet with nothing. Except this time the noise didn't stop. If anything, it was growing louder by the second. Someone was coming and he couldn't see, even though he was staring right in the direction the sound of the footsteps was coming from!

Was this a trick of his mind? Or was someone under the disillusionment charm?

The idea of not knowing was making his heart pound his chest. He was experiencing fear.

"Quit playing will you? Show yourself already!" He called out but nobody answered him. Scabior clicked his tongue angrily. If only he had his wand.

Suddenly, he felt the warm sensation of a small, soft hand touching his right cheek. He moved his head to his right but couldn't see anyone, but his cheek was still warm, the hand was still there. His eyes searched for something harder and harder, but found nothing but air before him. _Don't act like a scared school girl Scabior, use your skills, focus! _A voice snapped at him. It was right. Just because he was in his current predicament didn't mean that he still wasn't the leader of the snatchers. His heart hadn't stopped beating yet.

Taking in his subconscious's advice, he closed his eyes shut and took in a deep breath and stopped halfway through inhaling. There was a scent that wasn't there before. A scent he had smelled before…

_Vanilla._

Scabior's eyes blinked open again to see nothing yet again. Which was the problem. There was _nothing. _Not a person, not an animal, not even falling snow. Yet if he looked around, he could see that the snow was still falling everywhere, just not in front of him.

His eyes traveled upwards a couple feet to see that snow was still falling in that location, but was stopping just some feet above the ground. The whiteness was covering over something, taking in the shape of the top of a person's head and down there back. Judging by the shape, it was most likely a woman.

No. It was a woman.

Whoever it was, was indeed a woman. Wearing the same, innocent smelling fragrance. The same fragrance that he had smelt a few months ago.

Scabior smirked. "I knew I wasn't imagining you before."

For a second, he thought that he was going to be answered with silence. Instead, the warmth of the hand on his cheek jerked itself away and a tiny gasp was let out in the blank space before him, causing his smirk to widen.

"Why don't you show me that face of yours sweetheart?"

If his arms weren't numb with freezing pain, he would try to remove whatever was masking the unknown woman away from him. He had hardly gone once without being able to see this woman; he wanted, no, _needed_ to see her now.

The woman was muttering something, but it wasn't anything he recognized to start a conversation. It was a spell being muttered.

Fear prickled him for a split second, wondering what the female was doing until he began to feel all of his pain gently drift away.

She was healing him.

If the woman wasn't muttering a spell, he would've believed that she was an angel sent from heaven. Perhaps, she was still an angel in some way or another. He couldn't think of a reason why, but someone 'up there' wanted to keep him alive still.

Scabior decided to not fight the growing sensation of relief nor question it and relaxed against the tree as he listened to what he believed was an angelic voice taking away all of his anguish.

Now that he noticed, the woman's voice didn't sound like a woman after all. Not like a woman around his age or older, but younger. This was a girl, but definitely of age by the sound of it. So she wasn't too young. Scabior grinned at the idea. He wouldn't dare indulge himself on an underage girl, but if she was of age by Wizarding Law, then it was all fair game.

If only he knew what she looked like.

Another minute passed by and he no longer felt even a smidge of pain. _Perfect. _Scabior meant to quickly snatch his hand up to grab a hold of the unknown girl, but it was stiff and immobile to his side. Just like his other hand was, and his legs, and the rest of his body.

_The bitch had petrified him! _

He couldn't even move his lips to ask her what the hell her problem was. Heal him just to make him unable to move.

"I'm sorry!" She whispered and placed her hand against his cheek once more and he felt her thumb rake over his skin a couple of times. "It'll pass in about ten minutes and I casted a warming charm so that you won't catch hypothermia." The hand left his cheek once again and he could sense that she rose from her position next to him, and the next thing he knew he could hear the sound of her running footsteps fading away until all he could hear was the wind moving against the trees.

_I let her slip away again._ His thoughts echoed grudgingly. _I knew she was there this time and she's gone again._

Despite how upset he was about not knowing her identity still, he knew that he would know who she was soon. It was just a matter of time. The girl knew about him, she had gone against better judgment and came to heal him. She wasn't on the Dark Lord's side of the war. No, definitely not. If she was, she wouldn't have shielded herself. And on top of that, no one on the Dark Lord's side would take their time out of their lives to heal someone like him.

If he wasn't determined to find her as he was before when he first inhaled her scent months ago, he certainly was now.

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><p>Hermione was a far enough away from the wards that hid away her and her friends camp, she looked out to the darkened forest before her. If Harry and Ron knew what she was about to do, Merlin only knew what they would say or do. They certainly wouldn't condone it.<p>

But she had to at least go take a look to see if the snatcher was alive still or not. Or else she'd never be able to forgive herself if she didn't at least try.

Thinking about it, Hermione wasn't exactly sure where the snatcher was at now. Ron hadn't mentioned the whereabouts exactly, and she didn't have all night to wonder around the forest to look for a man that may already be dead. Luckily for her, she knew a spell.

Pulling out her wand and holding it in the palm of her hand she whispered, "Point me."

The vine wand twirled in her palm clockwise a few times before it finally locked in the direction that the snatcher was in. As long as she kept in the direction, she would soon come to find the man that Ron cursed.

As she began to walk in the direction her wand pointed her in, her thoughts wondered to what lay ahead of her. Was it really smart of her to be doing what she was about to do? Would it jeopardize her and her friends mission to find all of the horcruxs or was there a chance she would be able to make it back to the campsite? There was a possibility that the snatcher was still alive, but what if he had his wand and attacked her after she healed him? She'd be taken to the Ministry immediately and then who knew what would happen to her or the others afterwards.

Hermione was aware of the risks, and yet she still ventured to find this man. If her younger self could see her now, she'd be hearing a mouthful of words about consequences and such. But something in her was telling her that she had to keep going, to find the snatcher and help him if it wasn't too late. It was the right thing to do.

The temperature was dropping, and a good twenty minutes had flown by and it was getting to the point that she was actually doubting her spell's capabilities in finding what she was searching for. Since she didn't even know the man identity.

Just she was about to put her wand away and head back to the campsite, she heard a very low voice from the distant. She wasn't positive, but it sounded like someone had muttered a not too very intelligent word. Deciding that there was no harm and walking a little further, she passed by a dozen of trees and stopped suddenly as soon as a man laying against a tree came into view. He was about twenty feet away.

She was close enough to take in his appearance and knew exactly who he was.

It was the snatcher that she had seen months ago. It was their first night camping in the woods when she had heard something and had gone as far as to stand at the very border of her magical wards when she first laid eyes upon him.

There were several snatchers along with him, as well as the werewolf Fenrir Greyback that she recognized from wanted posters last year. The werewolf and another snatcher were carrying a person each. Hermione remembered feeling sorrow for the captured wizard and witch. She wished desperately that she could do something for them, but knew in the end it was hopeless. All she could hope was that they would find and destroy each horcrux so that Harry could defeat Voldemort and then they would truly be able to help everyone.

She hadn't paid attention to him particularly when he walked past her until he had paused in his walking to ask a question that appeared to be more to himself than the other members of the gang. Fear had stricken her. Had there been a flaw in her wards and he could see something he shouldn't have been able too? He then retraced his steps until he was standing exactly right in front of her and all Hermione could think of was to stay still and not let out even a breathe of air. The snatcher had then made it clear that he could smell something, her perfume. That was the flaw in her wards. Scent was able to pass through. Why hadn't she thought about it?

Hermione took in his appearance then. The man was a little over a foot taller than her and had the most strikingly bright blue eyes that she had ever seen. If he hadn't been an enemy, she would've complimented him. He had fairly colored skin and a little bit of facial hair beginning to grow on his face and had long, tangled looking brown hair with a red streak down the right side and was tied back into an attempt to braid. The snatcher probably wasn't interested in his hair's appearance, just wanted it out of the way. He wore a pair of dark green plaid pants with black boots, a matching studded belt, a black leather jacket, and a green vest underneath. Also, he wore the red ribbon that tied itself around his left forearm to signify his identity as a snatcher.

A thought in the back of her mind realized that the snatcher was rather on the handsome side.

Luckily for her at the time, one of the snatchers that was carrying an unconscious person had dropped the captive and distracted the handsome snatcher from his thoughts, which soon caused him to forget about her perfume and left with the rest of the group.

And here he was again, laying not to far away from her, bleeding to death into the white sheet around him. Hermione couldn't go heal him. She couldn't. Not the man that had almost discovered her before!

Yet, as if something had possessed her, she took a step forward and regretted it as soon as her foot stepped on a twig; causing it to snap under her weight.

The snatcher whipped his head in her direction, but she knew he couldn't see her. Even though it felt like he was staring right though her. Which he probably was.

_This was a bad idea._ Her subconscious whispered.

But hearing him mutter, "I'm becoming delusional." kept her there. Her determination to help him set back in. There was no way that she could turn back now. Hermione sucked in a breath of air, pushed back her fear, and walked directly to him. Not bothering to slow her pace even when she heard him call out with fear hidden deep within his words. "Quit playing will you? Show yourself already!"

Hermione didn't find it humorous at all to think that he was feeling a little fearful. He was in a vulnerable state. She couldn't blame him.

In attempt to sooth him, she crouched down beside him and placed her hand on his cheek. It shocked her for a second to feel how dangerously cold his skin felt beneath hers. His prickly facial hairs rubbing against her palm felt funny against her palm. She assumed that if she moved her hand back and forth, it may even begin to tickle. Now wasn't the time though.

Hermione was lost in his appearance to remember exactly why she was there. He was still just as handsome as the night she had last seen him, except for the loss of color in his skin and the oozing blood that came from the cuts that were all over his body. She noticed him closing his blue eyes - which Hermione couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that she couldn't look at those beautiful eyes - and watched as he breathed in air through his nose.

His eyes re-opened and her lips twitched at the sight of them. Her eyes watched his move around her a little, not really paying attention to what exactly he was looking at until she saw him smirk.

"I knew I wasn't imagining you before."

Hermione snapped out of her trance and let out a barely inaudible gasp before as she jerked her hand away from his face as if he'd burned her. The snatcher remembered her.

Actually, he remembered her perfume.

His smirk had widened by her reaction. "Why don't you show me that face of yours sweetheart?" He asked with slight raise to his eyebrows. Hermione resisted the urge to answer him and gripped her wand in her hand, remembering why she was hear in the first place. She needed to heal him before he lost anymore blood.

Without delay, Hermione began to mutter the complicated spell that would reverse the curse, causing his blood to flow back into his body and his wounds to heal.

She noticed his breath hitched slightly at the new feeling, or from the sound of spells coming from her mouth, but he relaxed after realizing that she was healing him.

Just as the last drop of blood circulated back into the snatchers body and all of his wounds had healed, she took advantage of him not yet realizing that he was fully healed and wordlessly casted Petrificus Totalus on him followed by a warming charm so that he wouldn't get any chance of freezing while he remained petrified. That way he wouldn't be able to do anything to her before she could get away. Hermione still needed to think of her safety and even if she healed him, she didn't know what he would do once his strength returned.

As if he read her mind, or tried to move and realized he couldn't, his unmoving eyes staring right through her, literally. Hermione couldn't help but feel a little guilty but quickly pushed it aside.

"I'm sorry!" Hermione whispered and placed her hand back on his cheek and felt something that she couldn't quit pin down as she could feel the heat under his skin from his returned blood. "It'll pass in about ten minutes and I casted a warming so that you won't catch hypothermia."

Knowing that some time had already passed since she had left her friends and the sooner she left the temporarily paralyzed snatcher, it would be better to get as much distance away as she could now. With that, she rubbed her thumb across his cheek in a silent goodbye and then took off in a sprint away from him. Not feeling guilty in the slightest knowing that it wouldn't be ten minutes and he would be able to move again.

Hermione was thankful for the rapid snowfall. The snatcher wouldn't be able to track her through her footprints in the snow.

After what seemed to be about ten minutes, she could tell from the familiar marking on a nearby tree that she was just outside of the magical wards that she had placed around their campsite.

But before she stepped through the wards, she remembered what she had told the boys what she had left to do and picked up the empty bucket that was laying on the ground, covered in a thing layer of snow. Quickly casting 'Aquamenti', a rush of water rushed into the bucket so quickly that the water was already overflowing out of the bucket. Which was a partial reason why they usually preferred the river than the spell. The spell made too much of a mess that wasn't desired in such chilling weather, and each of them needed an excuse to leave the tent for a brief period to get away to be alone for just a little bit. The three of them loved each other dearly, but if they didn't get their occasional breaks, heads would eventually begin to roll.

Hermione poured a little bit of water out of the bucket and stepped through the wards after making sure that there wasn't anyone behind her. As sure as she was that the snatcher hadn't followed her, she knew that right now he was no longer petrified.

And for some reason unknown, she couldn't help but feel relief yet anxious about that fact.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hooray! Scabior's Horcrux is writing another Scabmione fic! Haha. I'm sorry for not being around lately. For over a month and a half I didn't even have my laptop because of problems and not having any money to fix them up until a week ago. So I couldn't write or anything! Dx It was very depressing for me. But while being away from my laptop I did write drabbles, notes, and ideas in my notebooks** **while being away from my precious. **

**I'm already about finished with chapter two of this fic. So I'll try to have it up sometime within the week. Now with Hesitate, I'm still stuck on chapter eight. I've written a good five pages to it so far but I'm just stuck. I'm trying to get muse up for it but I'm hoping that my block for the fic will fade soon because I am going to keep writing it. I will not stop. So don't fret my loves! **

**Anywho, what did you think of this first chapter? Do you like it? This fic is pretty much taking place during the Deathly Hallows but I'm doing my own little tampering. ****But hey, that's what us fanfic writers do. Don't like it? LUMP IT. Haha. Kidding, I love ya'll. As I was saying though, this fic is going to be your typical fic about Scabior and Hermione's relationship throughout Deathly Hallows. But several obstacles will come in the way! So it's not going to be like the other fics. It's original and all. So I hope you're ready! ;) **


	2. Chapter 2

_She was surrounded by a bitter freezing darkness, nothing could be seen. Not even as she lifted her own hand to her face and couldn't make out the shape of it. Where was she? _

_Hermione turned herself around in each direction and was still met with only black. She tried to raise her voice to call out for someone, anyone; nothing came from her mouth. Panic overtook her and the only thing that came to her mind was just to run. Run until she found a way out of this never ending darkness. But no matter how far her legs took her, there was still nothing. Hermione dropped to her knees shivering from the freezing temperature that seemed like it was dropping lower by the minute and released a soundless cry. All she wanted was to get out of this place._

_As if someone had heard her, in the corner of her eyes she saw a beam of light. _

_Turning her body in the direction of the light, she could see a silhouette of a man standing directly in the middle of the light. He didn't make any movement, he just stood there and watched her. _

_Hermione didn't know the identity of this man, but she wasn't afraid of him. She felt a securing warmth surround her cold body and she welcomed it. Hermione stood up from the surface beneath her and walked towards him and hoped that this shadowed man was real and not just a trick of her mind. _

_As she neared him, his arm outstretched itself in her direction, waiting for her to take hold of his hand to take her out of this place. And just as her hand was about to clutch itself onto his, the surface below them rumbled and shook the dark world around them dangerously. Hermione's hand flinched away from his hand when she had meant to grab it, but the sudden shift in the world around them had caused her to hesitate. She instantly regretted it. _

_As she attempted to grab onto him once more, the surface beneath him had vanished and he was falling away from her and taking the light that entered this place with him. _

_Hermione screamed for him, this time the sound leaving her mouth and echoing into nothing. _

Hermione jolted up from her bed with a scream.

Looking around her, she could see a lamp on the other side of the room flash to life as her two male friends stumbled through the flap of material and into her sleeping quarters with wands pointed; ready to take on whatever had caused her to scream.

She didn't notice their questioning looks when they realized that there was no apparent danger.

Hermione blinked a couple of times as she brushed away a stranded lock of hair away from her sweaty forehead with a shaking hand. She was still in the tent. It had only been a dream.

But it had felt so _real._

"Hermione?" She heard a voice ask worryingly.

She had almost forgotten that her two best friends were in her small area of the tent that was separated from them by a my curtain like material. She must've woken them from her screaming. It was a good thing that Hermione had placed up wards or she might've woken up the entire forest they were in as she remembered exactly how loud she screamed.

"Hermione? You alright?" Harry took it upon himself to sit in front of her on her bed after she didn't answer him before. He wasn't wearing glasses and his hair was more out of place than usual. He had woken so sudden from her screams and rushed immediately to her that he didn't even bother to think about retrieving what would help his poor vision. Hermione felt guilty.

Clearing her throat and brushing lose strands of hair behind her ears, Hermione looked between Harry and Ron before answering. "Sorry, it was an awful dream. I didn't mean to wake either of you."

"Bloody hell." Ron muffled as he stifled back a yawn and scratched the back side of his head with his wand. "I'm amazed you can still talk with how loud you screamed."

"Sorry." Hermione looked down at her fingers that were fidgeting together as her face darkened with both guilt and embarrassment.

"What were you dreaming about that was so bad that you woke us up?" He asked bluntly not bothering to hide his grouchiness. Ron was never the happiest camper right after he woke up.

"Take it easy Ron, we've all had our share of bad dreams." Harry spoke with softness in his voice in attempts to keep his friend from breaking out into a full out foul mood. Thankfully, all that the ginger did was mutter something unintelligible and slouched out of Hermione's "room" and went back to bed.

When Harry covered his mouth to try and contain his own yawn, Hermione looked at him with an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry Harry. I don't usually have nightmares."

Harry gave her a sleepy smile. "You did give us a scare there. For a second I thought someone broke through your wards and found you first." When Hermione opened her mouth to utter another apology, he patted his hand on top of hers to keep her from doing that. "Don't apologize Hermione. It's natural to have a nightmare here and there, especially with all that's been going on lately."

"But Ron-"

"Ron and I have shared the same dormitory and rooms for the past seven years. It's nothing new for him to be woken up in the middle of the night because of my bad dreams." He grinned. "He'll get over it in the morning."

Hermione smiled back at him. "Thanks."

Releasing another yawn, Harry raised his arms above him to stretch and gave her one more friendly smile before rising from her bed. "I'm going back to sleep."

Hermione nodded. "Okay. I think I'm going to go keep watch for a little while. I don't feel like going back to sleep right now." Her scar-headed friend attempted to say something acknowledging her statement but it was incoherent against his yawn as he left to go back to his own cot.

Hermione stared at the entrance of her pretend-to-be room after Harry had left to go back to his own bed.

The image of the man reaching out to her flashed through her thoughts, soon followed by the image of him falling away from her. Hermione's chest felt like it was closing in on itself. She didn't understand why she felt so effected from the dream. Was it a sign?

_Don't be silly. _

Getting up from her make-shift bed, she pulled on her winter coat and slipped on her boots before grabbing her wand from her night table and one of her books to read in hopes to calm her mind.

Once she was outside of the tent, she conjured up a fire to keep her warm as she nestled herself comfortably at the tent's entrance and opened her book to a random page to begin reading. As she stared at the page before her, she couldn't get herself to read a complete sentence. Something was itching her in the back of her brain and it wasn't going away until her focus settled onto the thought. Whatever it was.

Hermione practically slammed the book shut and tossed it to the side in frustration, giving up on the idea that she was going to be able to get any kind of reading done.

Looking out into the dark forest ahead from her, she couldn't help but let her mind wander to the snatcher that she had healed yesterday night. She remembered how helpless he had looked when she first came upon him. How his blood was all around him, his face contorted in pain and fear. The man believed he was alone, but she could still tell that he didn't want to show how scared he really was at the fact that he was dying. Hermione shivered from the brutal memory of how cold his skin had felt against her hand, it was scary.

A small piece inside of Hermione hated Ron for causing such harm to a man and then left him there in that condition. Then again, it was Ron. Could she have expected him to turn around and heal an enemy? No. If it hadn't been for Harry and her, he might've killed the Death Eaters when they were at Shaftesbury Avenue. Regardless, he was still her best friend. Even as much as it pained her to know that he was willing to resort to such actions before all else.

The ways that war changed people.

Hermione's mind then wondered back to the snatcher yet again and pondered if he was alright or not.

_Of course he is. You healed him and casted a healing charm on the man, why wouldn't he be?_

_But he was petrified for ten minutes, anything could've happened._

_With how cold it was last night no dangerous animal would've been out._

_Still…_

Hermione continued to argue with herself inwardly until she finally came to the conclusion that she would go to where she had seen the snatcher, just to put her mind to rest that all was fine and she would no longer have to think another thought about the man ever again.

Getting up from her position on the ground, she quietly exited the camp. An uneasy feeling settled itself in the pit of her stomach as soon as she had crossed through the enchantments that kept her and her two best friends safe from the outside world. It was still dark and cold as it was earlier. Hermione ignored all of this, gripped her wand, and ventured her way through the threatening forest.

Nearly twenty minutes passed as she walked with as much stealth as she could muster as she didn't have the invisibility cloak with her on this trip; it was back at the camp with Harry and risking waking him to take it wasn't something she wanted to do. All Hermione could hope for was that the darkness camouflaged her from any unwanted predators _just_ in case she wasn't alone. Many people might think that they were safe being alone in such an area of landscape with no civilization for many miles, but Hermione was always one for caution.

Hermione's breathing stilled as she came to a stop in her footsteps. She was standing right over the small area where the snatcher had laid bleeding to death. She knew this was the spot as she had memorized the path she took the previous night, and this specific tree that she was under stood in isolation from any other tree by at least a good twenty-five feet.

This was definitely it.

As she glanced around, there were no single drops of blood which meant he had healed completely, and there was also no signs of any kind of struggle whatsoever in case something fierce came this way.

The snatcher had left this place with a clean bill of health and now her conscience was satisfied. Hermione couldn't help herself but allow her lips to twitch upwards slightly. He may have been an enemy in this war to her and her friends, but he was still a human being.

_Snap!_

Clutching her wand tighter than before, Hermione jerked herself around to the sound of a twig snapping; there was nothing there.

Her eyes narrowed In the direction in hopes to make out any kind of image, of what she was hoping was only a small forest critter lurking around. She didn't see anything, not a single silhouette of anything besides trees and shrubs. Perhaps the noise had come from the wind finally breaking off a frail branch from a nearby tree.

Hermione let out a small sigh of relief, she turned and walked a few paces away from the tree that she had stood underneath, ready to make her journey back to the camp just in case Harry or Ron would happen to wake up to find her gone without any note as to where or why she left. Merlin knew that the two of them jumped to conclusions and also didn't tend to use their heads before acting to often. The last thing she needed was them to wake up the whole forest with their constant shouting.

She shook her head and let out a tiny laugh. Hermione loved her boys, their actions were always from the heart, regardless if it was the smartest thing to do or not. Without trying to be conceded, she pondered humorously for a brief second just how far they would've gone without her on this mission of theirs.

Then, something made her freeze and stopped her from walking any further.

She had to squint her eyes, but she was able to just barely make out the silhouette of a man in the shadows. She had almost missed him and if she had kept to her thoughts and not pay attention to her surroundings, it would've been possible that she'd soon walk right into him.

Hermione's breathing stilled as she heard the man give out a slow wolf-whistle that sent chills down her spine.

_Move Hermione…move!_ Her mind screamed at her but her feet remained glued to the snow covered earth beneath her. The voice continued to shout at her, reminding her of the wand in her hand and that she wasn't physically handicapped. But the menacing figure ahead of her had completely fear stricken her.

When she saw him move towards her, she no longer felt paralyzed as a high voltage of adrenaline shot through her body and she turned on her heel, running in the opposite direction of the man.

She could hear her boots crunch against the snow beneath her as well as another much heavier pair behind her making their own imprints on the white surface. Of course he would be chasing her. Since when did someone ever run into a gloomy figure in a book or muggle movie and run away without that said figure take part in chase? Absolutely _none_ that Hermione could recall.

The fierce and bitter wind whipped at her face harshly as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her and her lungs felt as if they were being pierced by a thousand needles with each deep breath of chilling air that she inhaled.

Hermione heard a spell zoom past her and hit a nearby tree. By the way it went passed her, her pursuer was trying to evoke more fear from her. It was clear he wanted her by his own hands and not by his wand. He was merely taunting her.

She tried to not give him the very pleasure by keeping her cries of fear inside and kept up her fast pace, giving her body constant motivation that they could keep going. But for how long she didn't know. Hermione needed to lose him and fast before her body finally gave in.

_Why did I have to leave the camp? Why couldn't I just be a smart girl and just stay at the bloody camp! _

Her brain reminded her rather harshly that she wasn't at Hogwarts anymore. There would be no teacher or friend to come rescue her at her time of need. No. She was in the real world now, and during a war. There would be no one to come to her rescue now. Not Harry, not Ron, and certainly no teacher.

Hermione pushed out all of her panic and gathered her thoughts. She needed to get back in the direction of the path she had memorized that would take her back to the safety of her wards if she could lose the man. She had to before she went too far and eventually became lost in the forest.

Taking the opportunity of another spell whizzing past her, Hermione shot a jinx of her own behind her blindly just before her own wand was disarmed from her grip as she turned sharply and began to circle back to where she was originally by creating a confusing trail, in case her pursuer was still behind her, through the many trees. She wanted to go back for her wand desperately, but knew that would only be foolish on her part. With much regret, she continued onward.

After running for almost a minute, Hermione finally decided to glance behind her to see nothing behind her but the trees she had passed. She didn't stop yet, just in case.

Eventually, she slowed her legs to a light gallop and then finally to a full stop.

Hermione was back at square one. Except this time she wasn't in the small clearing where she'd be out in the open for anything or anybody to see. She stuck to the safe, yet dark coverage of the trees just on the outer rim.

As much as it killed her, she held her breath and listened intently for any kind of noise. A few seconds passed and she heard nothing. Either she had luckily nailed the man that had been chasing her with her jinx, or she lost him as she darted in random directions through the trees.

Not being able to stand it any longer, Hermione released a breath of air with a little more sound than she intended to do so as she bent forward and her hands gripped onto her knees until she finally caught her breath.

"After all of this is said and done," Hermione breathed to herself. "I'm _so_ getting a membership at the gym when I get back home." With her breath and lungs back to normal, Hermione stood upright once again.

The depressing feeling of being with out her wand was soaking in. It was _her_ wand. The very wand that Ollivander had given to her before she started her first year at Hogwarts. And she had left it behind, knowing that she had no choice, it still pained her in having to let go such an important piece of what she was to this very day. A witch. Perhaps after she got back to camp she would convince Harry to hand over the blackthorn wand and the invisibility cloak and _maybe_ there was still hope that her wand was still out there laying in the snow, patiently waiting for it's owner to return.

Hermione closed her eyes. It truly felt like a piece of her was missing. It almost physically hurt.

"Hello beautiful." A dark, velvety voice whispered in her ear.

There was that chill again.

Right before the words were even spoken, she had felt her hair get pulled back behind her ear carefully as a pair of lips were placed to the shell of her ear and a warm body barely touching against her back.

The fear was definitely back along but Hermione couldn't allow herself to be petrified this time around.

As if he had already guessed that she would make a run for it, a hand grasped firmly onto her right wrist. Instinctively, Hermione rammed her left elbow as hard as she could backwards and was satisfied when she heard a loud 'oomph!'. She knew she caught him off guard as well as she could hear the air get knocked out of him. Temporarily in his shocked state, he released her wrist from his grip and Hermione sprinted away from him.

But not a full two seconds passed and she felt the man grab onto her hood and jerk her backwards hard enough that it sent her flying to the ground.

Hermione glanced up just long enough to see that the man had a triumphant expression as he stared down at her. What surprised her, although it really shouldn't have, was that it was the very man that she had healed last night. _The snatcher._ Within that same second she snapped out of her stupor and kicked out her leg so that her foot caught itself behind the snatcher's knee and forced him to the cold ground as well.

Hermione turned and was on all fours as she made an attempt to get up from the ground and take off once more when just as she was preparing for another sprint, a hand grabbed her ankle which caused her to plummet face first back into the snow with a yelp.

She moved her other foot so that it connected with his head, but not as hard as she had hoped to have made the kick. It was still enough that she could crawl a couple feet away from him.

By now their struggle with each other had brought them into the same little clearing where they had last been "together".

Hearing him get up from the ground behind her, she turned her head to look up at him - waiting for him to pounce on her once more. Instead, she watched him grin and outstretch his hands in her direction and bent his fingers back and forth as he said, "Is that all you got sweetheart?"

The snatcher was challenging her.

Hermione knew that she had only two options. Either she could take off running and continue the same cycle that they had both been going through or finally put a stop to it and trust in her skills that she learned during her summers away from Hogwarts.

As much as running sounded really good, her Gryffindor pride spoke louder.

She staggered from her position on the ground, careful not to break eye contact with him in case he tried anything and stood before him, wondering if he was joking with her and was just going to pull out his wand instead.

Then, he clicked his tongue wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Your move sweetheart." Hermione wasn't sure, but by the way his face read nothing but cockiness was all it took for her.

Without holding back, Hermione swung a roundhouse punch. The snatcher bent backwards slightly just as her knuckles swished passed his nose. His forearm then connected itself onto hers that had just moved passed his head and brought his free fist down to her quickly before she could make her next move, and she staggered back when he slammed his fist into her shoulder.

Hermione glared at him as he made a clearly false apologetic look. That's when their two second break ended.

He punched. She ducked. He kicked. She twisted.

The two of them continued this violent dance for a short while, both occasionally getting a few kicks and punches in.

When finally, a well aimed left-leg kick came from Hermione that was meant to meet the snatcher's head when his hand grabbed onto her foot and kept it there instead of releasing it. All Hermione could do was stand there and hope to keep her balance on one foot and awaited for his next move, as it was clear that she couldn't make one at the moment.

She took notice in his smirk right before his free hand snaked its way up her leg and her eyes widened in shock and her mouth dropped to match the emotion. Hermione kept up with her balance as she tried to remove her foot from the snatcher's grasp but he wasn't yielding.

His hand made it's way up to her mid-thigh until it seemed as if he couldn't reach no further. Catching her off guard, he dropped her foot and reached forward to grab onto her arm, swinging her face first into the nearby tree; her body trapping one arm between her and the tree while the other was twisted behind her back. Hermione felt his body close in on hers as she once again felt his lips upon her ear.

"Looks like I win." He chuckled.

Hermione tried to budge but her action only caused him to twist her arm to the point that it was now becoming painful and she couldn't help but release a painful gasp. He was right, he had won.

"What do you want with me?" She hissed between clenched teeth.

Hermione could practically hear the grin in his voice as he said, "All I wanted was to thank my angel for saving my life last night, but you took off running from me like a scared little rabbit."

"I'm a girl alone in the woods who saw a creep," She snapped. "How do you think I should've reacted?"

Then, she felt herself get twirled around on the spot to now where her back was pressed against the tree and she was looking up at those bright blue eyes that she now took the time to remember. She also took in how his facial expression was serious.

"I'm many things sweetheart," He spoke. "but a creep ain't one of them." Hermione didn't respond to him and just waited for something, for anything. His face began to soften as his stern expression faded and their eyes locked on to each others completely.

Hermione felt frozen, but not out of fear. She was truly captivated by the beauty of his eyes once more. How could a snatcher, a man that seemed he could be many things besides virtually moral, had the most stunning pair of eyes that she had ever seen. The way his eyes looked into hers, it seemed as if he was peering into her very soul and not once did she feel an ounce of fear. It was as if something deep inside was reassuring her that he would not harm her.

"I have never seen a girl with such beauty before." He breathed. "As beautiful as an angel."

Hermione felt his hand push back her hair once more and it lightly brushed against the side of her face until her chin was cupped between his thumb and index finger. He lifted her head high enough to where their lips were separated by a mere inch of air.

"What's your name beautiful?" He asked softly.

Hermione didn't know where it came from, but something inside of her pulled her attitude up when she wasn't able to. "A man would introduce himself first before asking a girl for her name." She was answered by a chuckle and nearly got drunk off of his breath. With stories she heard about snatchers, she would've expected his breath to be so sickening that she would want to hurl then and there. Instead, his breath was a fine mixture of firewhiskey and something else that she couldn't place. It was intoxicating though.

"Scabior." The name rolled off his tongue with like silk.

She opened her mouth to say her name, but her brain kicked into gear and reminded her that this was a snatcher that was holding onto her and she was a the best friend of Undesirable No. 1, Harry Potter. Being the best friend of Harry Potter put Ron and herself right on top of the list along with him. She was worth almost as much as her scarred friend and any snatcher would be doing cartwheels if they knew that she was in their possession.

"Penelope." Hermione said bluntly. "Penelope Clearwater…I'm a half-blood."

Scabior smirked. "Ah, you figured I was a snatcher."

"I've seen you before with others, a-and the red cloth tied around your arm marks you as one." She defended herself, not sure if she should've really said that she had seen him before last night. Then again, she remembered how the previous night he said that he remembered her by the scent of her perfume.

"Smart girl. Not too many people have the brains to connect what the red means." He informed her. His other hand that wasn't holding her chin, decided to trust that she wasn't going nowhere as it left it's hold on her wrists and placed itself on the small of her back. "I hope you don't hold this against me sweetheart." He whispered. Before Hermione could open her mouth to question him, she was silenced with his lips pressing onto hers lightly.

Scabior stilled his actions for a second to see her reaction, and when Hermione didn't bother to try and push him away, he deepened the kiss.

Why didn't she want to push away? This man was a snatcher! He'd take her to the Ministry without blinking if he knew who she really was. Hermione was putting herself and her friends in danger just by being in his presence. This was wrong-

Her thoughts were silenced when she felt his tongue push past her lips, not waiting for her permission to allow him access.

Hermione felt a warm, tingling sensation in her lower abdomen as his tongue danced with hers inside of her mouth; his hand leaving her chin to entangle itself in her hair in the back of her head to deepen the kiss even further as his other hand grabbed onto her hip and gave it a small squeeze.

Then, she felt a spark ignite and pass between their bodies through their lips and the two of them both gasped at the same time.

So she hadn't imagined it.

Whatever it was, it was something that she couldn't explain.

Slowly, Scabior broke their kiss and pulled away from her but kept his one hand placed upon her hip. Hermione couldn't help but feel disappointed that the kiss had ended. She would never admit it allowed, but it had felt like total bliss.

As if her feelings of disappointment were displayed on her face, she watched Scabior smirk and release a throaty chuckle.

"I apologize _Penelope_," He brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek briefly. "But I need to leave before my men realize that I've been gone for too long."

_Who's Penelope?_ Her still dazed mind wondered. _Oh right. I'm Penelope. _

Hermione wasn't sure what to say to him. Thank him for the wonderful kiss? Ask him if it was his way in thanking her from last night? Ask him for one more? _Don't be a like a desperate little schoolgirl Hermione. You're better than that. _

"I want to see you again." Scabior said, his smirk faded and he now held a look of wonder on his face. "Say that you'll meet me here tomorrow?" He asked as his thumb moved itself back and forth of her cheek as he awaited for her answer.

_Say yes. _A voice commanded.

But was that the smart thing to do? Meet him here again? What good will that do her?

_You told him that you're a half-blood. He can't take you to the Ministry for being one. _The voice persuaded her. _Stop over thinking for a change and just listen to what you're feeling. _

Swallowing, Hermione looked up at him and nodded. "Yes." She breathed.

Scabior smiled softly as he placed both of his hand on the sides of her face. She closed her eyes as she was expecting him to give her another tantalizing kiss on the lips . Instead, she only felt his lips press themselves against her forehead for a moment before he pulled away from her altogether. Hermione opened her eyes to see him smirking at her.

"I'll be seeing you beautiful." He winked before turning around and walking away from her, disappearing from her view and into the trees. Another few seconds passed and she heard the familiar sound of someone disapparating. Scabior was gone.

Hermione let out a breath and leaned her full body weight back against the tree and looked up through the branches to the crescent moon that was high above her.

Then, she smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** **Let's here it for Scabior's-Horcrux updating a fic in under a week! Haha. I apologize if any of ya'll spotted any kind of errors - I still don't have a beta and I'm too lazy to re-read through my chapters before publishing. I always seem to read them AFTER I publish them, weird. I really did enjoy writing this chapter and I'm already working on chapter three. Ya'll should have seen me last night, I was writing on both this chapter and chapter three from 8pm-6am. I was in _the zone_. Hahaha. I hope to have chapter three up within the week but I can't make promises since this weekend will be my birthday. That's right, Saturday-November 19th will be my 18th birthday! It'll also be the one year anniversary since I fell in love with Scabior. To celebrate that, I may write a one-shot ;) **

**Speaking of writing, since I've received many reviews and praises for Maelstrom, I'm going to be publishing Maelstrom's Alternative Ending as well as a new fic that is themed like Maelstrom but I will not reveal if it'll be multi-chapter or not. There are a few other fics that are still in process that will be coming soon too so keep expecting from me! Also, I'm still trying to work up my muse to finish chapter eight of Hesitate because I really do want to continue that fic. Please have patience! :(  
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**So let's talk about this chapter. Did ya'll enjoy reading it? Opinions? What did you think about the little "fight scene" that I put in? Haha. I've never written one before so it was kind of my first time. I liked writing a Hermione that's not a complete damsel in distress and a Scabior that isn't into raping women. He's sort of a "gentleman" or however close he can get since I'm not going to write him out of character (psh, when do I ever?). But the dream Hermione had in the beginning of this chapter. I'm sure that a lot of you have put two and two together but don't jump to conclusions! ****Throughout this fic the dream will be reappearing but will be changing quite a lot. I promise to keep ya'll hanging on the edge of your seats over this fic! xD **

**So I hope to read some reviews with ya'lls opinions because they really do help my muse. I really appreciate what each and everyone of you have to say. If you have questions or anything feel free to message me on here or go to my profile and you'll see the links to my Tumblr and my Twitter where I often tweet and post about my current fics and future fics a lot. Also I'm going to be putting links on my profile to graphics and such where friends and followers have made things in dedication to my fics!  
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**Have a wonderful day!**


	3. Chapter 3

There was a loud bang as Scabior slammed down his bottle of firewhiskey and motioned to the bartender for another. Once his bottle was magically refilled once the bartender added it onto the tab, he grabbed it and took another swig as he surveyed his surroundings. He was in the Leaky Cauldron, or what was left of it at least. The place was a never a five star bar and motel, but it used to give a sort of "home" feeling to a lot of traveling witches or wizards. Now it had a dark and eerie vibe. Snatchers were the only ones that preoccupied the bar anymore, since everyone else was too afraid to be around any of them. Unless the person were a pureblood, snatchers would try to find the simplest reason to take someone into the Ministry for any kind of money.

A bunch of greedy bastards snatchers were. Of course, he wasn't exactly innocent himself.

As they all worked in groups, each snatcher saw the other as a competitor. Every single one of them wanted to capture mud-bloods and keep the money all to themselves. But with every capture for a group, the money was always divided instead of each one given the price on the head of whoever they had turned in. Which was how the Ministry wanted it. The less money that they earned, the more eager they were to hunt down the next victim.

Scabior was lucky enough to be assigned to be the highest in command of all of the snatchers - the honor given to him by Dolores Umbridge herself - so he always received a percentage more than the others. Of course none of them knew that besides Umbridge and himself, snatchers were ex-convicts after all, they would try to get what they want by any means necessary.

With that thought in mind, Scabior's hand went into his inner jacket pocket and fingered the vine wand lightly and his lips twitched upward. He remembered quickly retrieving the wand after he had disarmed the girl whilst he was in chase last night. He had spent all of yesterday thinking of nothing but the invisible witch that had saved his life. Theories were burned into his brain on whether he had lost his mind and only imagined that he was cursed by a fleeing wizard, that it was a real angel that was sent to him, or by sheer luck a young witch had come to his rescue. After long hours, Scabior had decided on the most probably cause. The young witch had somehow found out about him being injured and came to save him out of the goodness of her heart. Although deep in the back of his head, he also believed that there was some unknown force that sent her his way.

When the sun had begun to set, Scabior knew with every inch of his body that the girl was going to return to the same place. If she had a conscious to save him from near death, then her conscious wouldn't allow her to continue forward unless she went back for some sort of verification. It didn't seem like the girl's nature to not too.

It would provide him the perfect chance for him to get the questions that he had for her finally answered then turn her into the Ministry. There was no reason for a pureblood to be in hiding in the middle of nowhere and only walk in the night invisible. The girl was most likely a mud-blood on the run. And whether or not she saved him, he was beginning to run low on his money and needed to make some more before he was slum dry. It was a cold thing to do, but he was the leader of the snatchers for a reason.

He had hidden himself with a disillusionment charm in the tree line around the clearing where he had been bleeding to death the night before and waited for her to return.

Then, Scabior laid eyes on her for the very first time and was stricken with shock.

The young witch was beautiful. Her brown and messy looking hair was pulled back into a loose bun that hung on the back of her neck, she was wearing a darkly colored winter coat and pair of jeans that fitted her legs rather nicely to his notice, along with a pair of boots. Despite her worn appearance, she looked very attractive and the way her body was perfectly shaped had Scabior staring at her arse longer than necessary.

Lost in his stupor, Scabior stepped from around one of the trees he had been staking-out behind and flinched when he felt and heard a twig snap underneath his foot.

The way she had turned suddenly had the sound with a frightened look on her face had caused his insides to twist in excitement. The witch was facing his way but he knew that she couldn't see him, not with his disillusionment still in effect. Now he had a view of her from the front and his jaw nearly dropped the sight. Her face didn't have a single hint of any makeup and yet she held so much beauty. So many women had to put on pounds of makeup nowadays to look as beautiful as she did, and it was all natural for her. Granted, he had to take notice of the dark bags underneath her eyes and the tiredness that was pressed on her face. He couldn't really blame her for looking that way, being on the run didn't give much time for sleep and comfort.

Scabior had watched her with curiosity as he saw her sigh out in relief, believing that she was actually alone. It amused him so greatly that he decided to put an end to his hiding and silently disbanded the charm and knew that he was no longer under any kind of enchantments. It took her long enough, it looked like she had been lost in thought and if she kept on she would've walked right into his arms, not like he would've minded. Scabior knew that she realized him finally when she froze on the spot and stared directly at him.

The look of fear on her face was so tantalizing that he couldn't resist teasing her with a whistle and make an advancement on her to push her over the edge and into a run. Of course being a snatcher to heart, he couldn't help but take in chase.

He had chased after her for a while and when he felt that running was getting boring he had shot spells her way to scare her but didn't want to intentionally hit her. He didn't know whether he should've felt irritated or amused when she didn't give any sorts of cries but instead shot a spell back at him which he dodged easily and disarmed her.

He allowed her to run ahead, knowing full well that she'd eventually go back to where they originally had come from because he doubted that she knew these woods like he did. So he had taken his sweet time in locating the witches wand and then back to her.

It had almost made him laugh when he looked to see how out of breath she was and had already dropped her guard. She didn't even realize him advance from behind until he whispered into her ear.

That's when they fought.

Scabior would be in clear denial if he thought that he hadn't been surprised when she fought back physically. Usually when he or his crew captured women, they gave up rather easily once they were wandless. Some had even offered pleasure to some of the men in return for freedom. Scabior never took part in having his way with the women like some of his other men did, but none of them were ever released besides to the officers at the Ministry.

When their fight had ended, he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do with her when she had asked him. He was stuck between taking her to the Ministry right then or something else.

His decision had been made when he turned her around for them to be face to face and her beauty had captivated him once more. He was amused with their conversation but could no longer contain himself as he kissed her and felt something like electricity flow through him and her. It made him break the kiss and still regretted doing that to this very moment.

Her lips had tasted so good.

He believed it was wise to leave then before he made any more moves without properly thinking things through and took his leave, but not before making sure that she would agree to meet him again, which he knew she would.

"You going to sit there and stare at your drink all night or are you going to drink it?" A raspy voice broke into his mind and Scabior was brought back to reality. He looked up to see the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback sitting opposite of him at the table he was currently occupying. He glared at the man before taking another swig from his bottle.

Scabior had almost forgotten that he was supposed to be meeting with his "partner" here tonight. He disliked thinking about the man-eating werewolf as a partner. As Scabior was in charge of the vast numbers of the snatchers, Greyback was the eyes and ears for the Dark Lord since he had still yet to bare a dark mark. He _almost _had pity for the werewolf knowing that he would never be nothing more than just a dog that would always seek for praise from his masters. It had irritated Scabior when not too long after he began his position as a snatcher that Greyback would be working with his gang so that the Dark Lord could keep an eye on things. Just incase there was anything suspicious going on.

It was infuriating because Scabior felt like he actually had an unruly dog under his care. If he didn't pay attention or left the werewolf alone for too long, then he'd been a few prisoners short as they would've been killed by Greyback. And the Ministry of Magic only allowed fugitives that were_ alive_ unless they were an Order member or the top three Undesirables. Greyback was not good for business.

"It's about time you got here." Scabior snapped. "I was beginning to think that you were off somewhere eating innocent children." He regretted saying what was supposed to be an insult as the werewolf grinned maliciously at him, and then did Scabior notice the small smudge of blood at the corner of his mouth. "Maybe I was."

Greyback down his own bottle of firewhiskey before wiping his mouth with his stained sleeve. "So what you call me for that you couldn't wait to tell me during our next patrol tomorrow?" He asked gruffly.

Scabior looked around the room and casted a silencing spell around them just in case any of the other snatchers in the room were wanting to listen in to their conversation. Sitting up properly, he leaned slightly over the table and spoke in a low voice. "What would you say if I discovered a way that we could get our hands on Potter?"

Greyback's eyes widened in curiosity and ignored his firewhiskey, his attention fully captured. "Go on." He demanded.

"Last night," Scabior began. "I was lucky enough to encounter the mud-blood, Hermione Granger, in the woods alone and I convinced her to meet me again tonight." He expected a positive response but was disappointed when the werewolf snorted in disbelief. "You had too much to drink Scabior. I heard the girl is smart, why should I believe that you spotted her much less talked her, Potter's _best friend,_ into meeting you again? An enemy?"

Scabior looked around him to make sure that no one was paying attention as he pulled out what his hand had been playing with for the last few minutes and laid it out on the table. "That's proof enough I believe." He smirked. "It's vine with dragon heartstring. The mud-blood's wand that I disarmed her with last night. She's going to want it back and will have no choice but to leave the comfort of wherever she is hiding to get it back."

Greyback slammed his hand down onto the table loudly as he let out a triumphant laugh. "Great! This is the money break that we've been needing! We'll get her tonight and take her in."

"Didn't you hear me you thick-headed dog?" Scabior snarled as he placed the wand back into the safety of his jacket when Greyback tried to retrieve it for himself. "She's our ticket to Potter and the Weasley boy."

"Yeah?" Greyback asked, glaring at him for the insult but was smart enough to put it behind him if he wanted to find out the rest. "What makes you think that she'll give them up?"

"She ain't going to give them up now. It's going to take some time." Before Fenrir could cut in again, Scabior continued. "I might've planted a little, let's say a seed, into her last night. With each time I get her to meet with me, it will continue to grow until it's bloomed and the mud-blood will trust me completely. And when that happens -" He slapped his hand against the table. "We'll get the whole set! Imagine all the money will get for the trio? We and the rest of the crew will be rich enough to retire."

Greyback didn't look like he was ready to celebrate just yet, it was as if he had another question on his mind. Scabior leaned back into his chair again and gave his partner a questioning gaze, silently telling him to speak his mind.

"The girl clearly knows you're a snatcher, am I right?" He asked and Scabior nodded. "Don't tell me that it hasn't crossed your mind that she ain't going to be so trusting with you. She'll be suspicious to know why you didn't turn her in the minute you knew who she was."

Scabior chuckled. "Like you said Greyback, the girl's smart. She lied to me and told me that she was a half-blood. She thinks I'm like some of the other idiots that call themselves snatchers." It really was a shame that she underestimated his knowledge by believing most of the rumors about the snatchers being dim. He wasn't no fool. When he laid his eyes on her face he knew exactly who she was. Her face was plastered everywhere along with Potter and the Weasley boy. It would take a _really _dim person to not recognize her. "Besides, she most likely thinks I'm wanting to meet with her again tonight because cupid hit me with one of his arrows."

"And here I thought I was the cruel one." Greyback snickered. "Shame on you Scabior, playing with a young girls heart."

Scabior tilted himself backwards in the wooden chair and kicked his feet up onto the table and smirked at Greyback.

"There's a reason why I'm the head honcho."

* * *

><p>Hermione stared at the floorboards beneath her feet and fidgeted with her fingers. She knew that it would've been a bad idea to ask Harry to borrow his wand and cloak, but she would've felt worse with herself if she had stolen it from him in his sleep instead. Hermione only regretted now that she shouldn't have asked Harry in front of Ron. When Harry asked her why, which she knew was going to happen, she explained that it must've accidentally fallen out of her pocket when she took a small stroll to survey the area and wanted to go look for it.<p>

Neither of them took it lightly, especially Ron, who was a constant target for Hermione when it came down to safety and precautions. For the last ten minutes the two of them had tagged team her between scolding her for being careless, and calling her a hypocrite; this wasn't the time to be losing wands. Hermione decided that she would've rather been called a hypocrite for being careless than probably something far worse if she told them what had really happened.

Her memories blinked back to the electrifying kiss that she had shared with Scabior, the snatcher, and felt something tingle in her lower abdomen. It took her everything she had to not blush.

She shook her head to clear the blush away and looked at her two friends that were still fuming at her. "You two can stay mad all you want but I'm still without a wand." Hermione pointed out and sucked in her gut to summon up her next words. "Now one of you give me a wand and the cloak or I will go out there myself to look for my wand, wandless and completely visible." Hermione kept her mask of confidence up so they would take her threat seriously and give in to her demands because she was serious. She wanted her wand back and was hoping that it was still out there where she had ran from the snatcher and hoped that he didn't have it.

Then again, if he had it then he would've turned her in to the Ministry last night - right?

She dismissed the idea when she saw Ron let out a sigh of defeat and handed her his willow wand. "Don't lose that one." He said with stern and soon after Harry came up from behind him and handed Hermione the invisibility cloak. "And _be _careful." he added.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she tucked the cloak under her arm and placed Ron's wand in her front jean pocket. "Honestly, I'm allowed to make one mistake aren't I? After all, I'm the most careful one out of the three of us."

"True." Harry nodded and looked away from her as his hand rubbed the back of his head nervously. "But Ron and I have been beginning to think that you're…losing your edge."

Hermione's eyebrow raised as high as it could go at her friends statement in disbelief. "_Excuse me_?" She half screeched and took a step forward, causing her the two boys to step back.

"W-Well…we haven't gotten any further in our mission lately and usually we're a step forward by now." Ron stepped in but didn't meet her eyes either. Both of them knew that they were stepping on dangerous grounds right now. "And now you've lost your wand."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Hermione rolled her eyes and waved her hands around. "I've been doing my best lately and just because I'm intelligent and have saved your behinds one two many times, doesn't mean that I can't be stuck in a rut myself at times too. Why don't you two try to pick up some books for a change and try to come up with some clever ideas yourselves?" She opened her mouth to add something more but instead blew out a huff of air in their direction and exited the tent.

"Honestly, the nerve of those two!" Hermione grumbled as she stormed her way out of the campground and pulled on the invisibility cloak just before she exited the wards. "Who are they to criticize me of our progress so far? If you ask me I think I've been doing most of the work. What have they been doing? Complaining about the food I cook and moaning about how this and that needs to get done."

"Well let's see how long they can last without me!" She ended her rant by yelling back in the direction of the tent that she could no longer see. Whether they hear her or not she didn't care. Hell, she didn't even care if someone else around heard her.

It took her a few minutes of stomping through the snowy forest noisily until she finally cooled down and slowed her pace to an even walk. She was glad that the sun was still out and wouldn't begin to set for a little while longer, which gave her plenty of time to really look for her wand like she said she was going to do. Hermione still refused the other part in her brain that was telling her that she really wanted to see the snatcher again.

_Bullocks. I only told him yes so that he wouldn't be tempted to take me to the Ministry last night. _

Although, she did tell him that she was a half-blood. Why did she agree?

_Maybe it was that kiss he gave you. You're becoming the typical innocent girl lusting over the 'bad guy'. _Hermione snorted. She certainly wasn't lusting over some snatcher. But the kiss that was shared between them was very…unique.

She remembered all too well of the way his eyes bored into hers, as if they were trespassing into her very soul. How surprisingly gentle he was after everything slowed down, and when he kissed her ever so sweetly that sent her chest on a frenzy just by thinking about it; and the way he slid his tongue into her mouth without even waiting on invitation, _oh my._ Hermione thought and felt her face heat up.

Dear Merlin, she _was_ lusting over this man.

It was wrong. It was incredibly wrong. It was so wrong that fish dancing on shore seemed more plausible.

Hermione's mind flashed back to the exact moment when she had felt that spark push it's way through her body and into his through their lips. When Scabior had gasped right when she did, she knew that he had felt it too. But what was it? Was it something magic, or was it just a trick of the mind that coincidentally happened to the two of them at the same time? But more importantly, had it been a good or bad sign?

There was no doubt that Scabior was a dangerous man and it was completely obvious that he was a snatcher - which added on even more to his dangerous personality. The way he was an arrogant bastard, and the next he was surprisingly charming. He wasn't sparkling clean and he wasn't necessarily filthy either, a lot like her, and his clothing was questionable; yet it seemed to work with him. With the way he put himself, Hermione had a small guess that he could probably wear anything and be able to pull it off.

"_Say that you'll meet me here tomorrow?"_ His smooth voice floated through her memories. The way he sounded, it was as if he really, truly wanted to see her again. How could see have said no to such a man that was so mysteriously intriguing? As much as he judgment was screaming at her, she needed to go meet him again. It was as if something deep within her was telling her so.

_I do need to find my wand too._ She defended.

Hermione noticed back at Hogwarts how a lot of the girls fell for so many boys easily. The way they would be willing to do just about anything to make their crush or boyfriend happy, and then allow themselves to fall so head over heals that they forgot to protect themselves and soon have their hearts broken. She never wanted any part of that. How could she give something so vulnerable and important to her to someone so easily like most of those girls had done?

It was bluntly obvious that she wasn't falling for the snatcher. Not at all, she had only officially met him last night. What she was feeling now was curiosity…and she had to admit lust. Hermione would have to be a fool to deny that she was craving his lips on hers again. Could she blame herself? She was a girl with hormones and hadn't been touched by a male in such a way since her fourth year and it was by Viktor Krum.

Of course, she was being an extreme fool by going to meet him again. No matter how intrigued she was by him, he was a snatcher, and she was putting herself and her friends in a considerable amount of danger by doing this. Despite lying about who she was, it was still a big risk to take.

And for what? To let off some steam from being pinned up with two other boys in the same tent for months? Harry and Ron were right. Perhaps she was losing her edge in some way.

This was a dangerous game that she was beginning to play, and she didn't know if she was going to be able to stop herself.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm sorry that this chapter was a little shorter than the others. I was actually going to add on all the way to the part when Scabior and Hermione meet up again but I think it's better to do what I plan to do in the next chapter. But - oh no! Scabior isn't as much as a gentleman that we thought huh? I bet none of ya'll were expecting this! Poor Hermione. I wonder where this story shall go between these two ;) Hahaha. Forgive me for any errors in this fic, I'm still lazy as ever to proof-read and have yet found a perfect beta that I can rely on.  
><strong>

**Thank you everyone that wished me a happy birthday in reviews and through messages! I really appreciated it. I had a wonderful birthday :) I hope to have another chapter up soon. I'm actually working on chapter four and a one-shot of Loki/Jane from the movie, Thor. I've fallen for the pair even though they've never interacted at all in the movie. But the one part where Loki mentions here did it for me. What is wrong with me? I always ship non-canon pairings xD **

**Have a wonderful day!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Apologies if you come across any errors! I still have no beta and I will go over this chapter and edit it as soon as I can, enjoy!**

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><p>"Crap, crap, <em>crap!<em>" Hermione kicked at the snow in frustration.

She had been searching for her wand for over a half an hour and there was still no sign of her wand. She had even tried to summon it with Ron's wand by using 'accio' but it never came to her. There was only one explanation why even a summoning spell wouldn't have brought her back her vine wand.

The snatcher had it.

With a heavy sigh of defeat, she shoved the borrowed wand into her pocket and leaned back against the very tree in the clearing where she had last seen Scabior.

She'd have to wait for him to show.

Hermione placed the invisibility cloak inside of her enchanted bag at her side. It was dangerous to not have it on, but if Scabior was really going to meet her then she didn't want him to know that she had an invisibility cloak because Harry Potter owned one and that would be a dead give away for her.

Then again, if he was a smart snatcher and had possession of her wand, he could've easily taken it to a wandmaker to see who it belonged to.

Hermione swallowed nervously and began to fidget with the hem of her coat.

Another half an hour had passed and she decided that she needed to head back to the camp. She couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Scabior wasn't coming.

Pushing off the tree, she looked up towards the sky to see the stars twinkling down at her, as if they were holding secrets from her.

She turned to in the direction of the camp and that's when she heard the voice she had been waiting to hear ever since last night.

"Where are you going beautiful?" The voice purred.

Hermione jerked around to see him leaning on the very tree that she had been leaning against and couldn't help but feel aggravated.

"I've been waiting for you."

"Have you?" Scabior smirked arrogantly.

"Yes and I don't appreciate that you've made me wait so long." She huffed in reply.

He chuckled and moved himself away from the tree to stand in front of Hermione. "Sorry about that beautiful, I was a bit tied up with work." Scabior brushed the backs of his fingers down her cheek lightly. "You know, mudbloods to snatch."

Hermione froze and stared up at him, doing her best to keep herself from looking frightened as the smirk on his face grew.

Did he know?

She could feel her fear bubbling up inside of her already.

She shouldn't have came.

"I've been wondering all evening if you were coming back to see me. I kept thinking that I was going to make a fool of myself by showing up here to see that you didn't." He lowered his hand back to his side. "I'm glad to see that you proved me wrong."

Hermione opened her mouth and realized that no words were coming up. She cleared her throat before trying again, "I like to keep to my word when I make a promise."

"Even though I'm a snatcher?"

"I'm a halfblood, there's no reason why I shouldn't come back. I have nothing to hide." Hermione lied and was surprised at herself that she sounded convincing. The main thing was if it convinced _him_.

Scabior's strikingly blue eyes stared into her chocolaty ones, she didn't miss the small mischievous glint in them. "No, I guess you don't."

Hermione mentally relaxed with relief. He still believed that she was Penelope Clearwater.

Something flashed through his eyes but before she could catch it, the snatcher had taken a step forward, invading her personal space. His hot breath that had a hint of firewhiskey flitted across her face and Hermione welcomed to warmth on his face that had been exposed to the chilly night air for far too long already.

"Why did you save me?" Scabior questioned, tilting his head slightly as he looked at her with pure curiosity.

"You were dying." Hermione whispered, still trapped in his mesmerizing gaze.

Why were his eyes so _astounding?_

"Technically, I'm serving the Dark Lord and it's not much of a guess when I believe that I'm considered your enemy."

Annoyance flickered through Hermione as she felt herself break from his gaze only for her own eyes to narrow. "Why does it matter who you are? You were bleeding to death. I'd be a monster if I just simply walked away from you knowing that I could've helped you."

Scabior shoulders shook only once as he withheld a laugh, looking at the ground. "If you knew the things that I've done-"

"It doesn't matter who you are, or what you've done. You're still a human being and nobody deserves to die; not that way." Her eyebrows furrowed and knew that her words somehow effected him when his eyes jerked back up to meet hers and she could see a mixture of shock and astonishment written on his face.

Silence passed through them for a moment before Scabior spoke up again:

"Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?" His tone serious.

Hermione nodded, "Yes."

There was no time to even blink before she was jerked forward and a pair of lips slammed down on top of her hers.

Acting on instinct, she tried to pull away but felt a pair of hands place themselves on either side of her head and Scabior had soften the kiss to the point that Hermione could feel the electrifying sensation shoot through her just like the first time they had kissed.

She immediately began to respond to the kiss, tossing away all thoughts telling her it was wrong and grabbed the front of his leather jacket, pulling him closer than he already was to her.

Scabior's tongue forced its way into her mouth before she had given him permission, but it didn't bother her in the slightest by his forceful way - she actually liked it.

His hands weakened as the kiss continued. They slid down her neck, over her shoulders, and down her arms, then his arms encircled around her waist and tightened. He then only broke away from the kiss after another moment passed to trace his lips along her jaw and then they wondered down to her throat and she felt him suck lightly right where her pulse was.

Hermione released a shuddering breath as she felt pleasure shiver up her spine.

Then, his hands placed themselves firmly on her ass as he lifted her up.

Automatically, she wrapped her arms and legs around him as he carried her without any struggle to the nearest tree. As soon as her back was placed firmly against it she felt Scabior's hands unbutton the front of her coat.

Hermione made a tiny squeak when she felt icy hands on her bare skin underneath her shirt and another shiver went through body.

Scabior made a throaty chuckle as he lifted her shirt up and stared at her purple laced bra, nearly grinning as he saw that the clasp was in the front instead of the back. He popped her bra open with barely any effort and her breasts fell with a tiny bounce.

Hermione saw his eyes narrow hungrily and then snapped her eyes close and arched her back as she felt his mouth take in one of her breasts on felt his tongue play with the nipple.

Never in her life did she ever experience such a _wonderful_ sensation. The way his lips and tongue played with one breast and his hand fondled the other was causing the pit of her stomach to ignite with butterflies and her panties began to dampen.

Hermione's fingers dug themselves into his tangled hair and gave it a small tug when his teeth nibble on her hardened nipple. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to try and stifle her moan that threaten to escape past her lips but couldn't stop the noise her throat made of ecstasy.

Then, Scabior lifted his head up from her chest so that his lips hovered right in front of hers. Hermione's stomach did a flip when she watched him lick his lips and then brought them back down to her with pure heated desire that was practically radiating off of him.

He pressed himself completely against her until it felt like their bodies were molded together, and that's when she could feel something _hard_ pressed against her hip.

Hermione's mind was screaming at her to stop this but her body was so overwhelmed with lust that she completely ignored her conscience to only tightened her hold on him further and deepen their kiss.

She wanted more.

No.

She_ needed_ more.

Scabior's hand traveled downward until his fingertips danced right below her belly button and gripped the button that held her jeans together, ready to take everything a step further. But then, he stopped.

"Shit." He cursed, breaking the kiss and leaned his head against the tree beside her head.

Hermione blinked, feeling the heat fade from her face and turned her head to look at him quizzically. Why did he stop?

Scabior placed a kiss on her temple and left it there for a second before pulling away from her. "I'm sorry beautiful, but duty calls." He apologized and Hermione noticed him grab at the stag ring that was on his right hand.

Quickly, she yanked her shirt down and buttoned up her coat, telling herself that she'd fix her bra after she got back to the tent.

Now that all of the intensity of lust and passion had gone away, Hermione looked at the ground awkwardly. What was she supposed to say to him? Thanks for the great snogging, have a good time at work? She had to resist the temptation to roll her eyes at the idea.

She heard Scabior chuckle before she felt his hand cup her cheek and lifted her face up to look at him. His eyes studied hers with amusement.

"If I had it my way, I'd ignore the call and continue but the last thing I want to happen is some of my men come looking for me and want to get their own greedy hands on my treasure." He said as his hand stroked her cheek, his face switching from amusement to intensity which made her feel her face heat back up.

"Will I see you again?" The words slipped from her mouth and Hermione's eyes widened.

She honestly didn't know what she had been thinking when she said it, but knew right then that she didn't want to take it back either.

Hermione wanted to come back her tomorrow, and she wanted him to be here. There was no point in denying it, she was caught in this man's web of desire and she didn't feel an ounce of guilt about it.

Scabior's eyebrows raised as if he had too been stunned by her words. Which caused her to feel more nervous than she already was. What if he didn't want to see her again? But that was unlikely, if he wanted to see her tonight then there was no doubt about it that he'd want to see her again…right?

"Of course." The words floated out of his mouth soothingly, calming her every worry.

He then leaned down toward her, never looking away from her eyes, until their noses were a mere inch apart. Hermione could only get a single breath in right before he closed the distance and pressed his lips to hers.

The softness of his kiss caused Hermione to stop breathing and felt her mind go blank.

How was it that he could do such a thing to her, she'd never know.

He held her there, motionless, for a moment. Then, he withdrew, only slightly. Their lips came apart and he tilted his head so that their noses brushed and he then closed his lips over hers.

Moments passed and he pulled away from her for the final time with a cocky smile playing on his lips and Hermione felt something hard being placed in her hand. Confused, she looked down to see the object in her hand only to let out a small gasp.

It was _her_ wand.

Hermione jerked her head back up to look up at him to only see that he was walking away from her and soon he was out of her field of vision. He had disappeared just like that without a single word.

Her mind had finally kicked back into motion when it really dawned on her that she had her wand, and that he really did have her wand.

Hermione took off in a run.

"You didn't have to stop, it looked like you were enjoying yourself with the mudblood." Scabior turned to his left to see Greyback leaning against a tree, playing with a beaded necklace that he must've picked off one of his latest victims. He had half a mind to hex the werewolf where he stood so smugly.

"If you weren't watching, I would've and then I could've really enjoyed myself." He snapped back.

Greyback laughed and nodded at the girl who could be seen running in the distance, slowly disappearing as the darkness grew from the trees that didn't allow the moon or stars light passage through their branches. "Don't you think we should follow her? She'll take us right to where Potter is."

Scabior watched her retreating form finally disappeared from sight and could finally let himself fully relax. The girl was his target and he'd be damned if he gave the werewolf the chance to take a bite out of what was his.

"I already told you Greyback, we need patience. No doubt she'll pass through wards that'll cloak her before we even get the chance to catch up to her."

"Just how long-"

"I thought that you were watching?" Scabior glared at him. "You saw how she was with me, I already planted the seed in her and it won't be long until I have her full, undivided trust in me."

"You better not make me wait too long Scabior." Greyback warned coldly as he walked toward him but stopped when he was a few paces in front of him. "I want that reward money…but not nearly as much as I want to take a bite into the girls throat."

The way Greyback had said it made Scabior's nose crinkle in disgust. "The girls mine. You can have the Weasley but the girl is mine to do with if the Dark Lord doesn't decide to have her killed, you hear?" His voice threatening.

A moment passed between the two of them. Greyback's face was blank but Scabior could see the angry boiling behind his irises. He didn't care, he was ready for a duel if Greyback attacked him. He was ready to cast a few curses at the werewolf already for interrupting him when he had been so close to claiming the girl indefinitely as his. He had been achingly hard just from kissing the girl and he wanted take her against that tree right then and there. But then his ring had warmed itself against his finger, telling him that someone had crossed one of his wards that he had surrounding the area. Scabior had then known immediately who it was and it had taken everything that he had to hide his anger deep within him until he had walked away from her.

He decided to give Hermione back her wand.

She was an intelligent girl, she would figure it out that he knew that she was lying to her.

But whether or not she'd return to him was the greatest question.

Scabior might've lost the biggest chance that he had to getting his hands on Potter, but he wanted to give her back her wand. He wanted it to be a sign to her that she could trust him.

Even though she really couldn't.

"Fine." Greyback's voice clipped with irritation before he twisted away from existence, most likely apparating to somewhere he could take care of his hunger.

Scabior clicked his tongue, disappointed that he didn't have the chance take his anger out on the werewolf after all.

He then looked back in the direction that Hermione had run off to and felt something in the pit of his stomach that felt like worry. He was worried that he might've made the mistake by giving her back the wand because it was a very high chance that she would not come back. Why would she? She knew she was one of the top three undesirables in the wizarding world and the fact that a snatcher knew her identity and came in close contact with her was not a good thing.

He was also worried because Greyback had tracked him to this spot, and if he could track him here, then he could always attack the girl. Scabior had regrettably witnessed a time or two of what Greyback did to his prey and Scabior didn't want that sort of thing to happen to the girl.

She was too innocent, too much of an angel for that sort of thing to happen to her.

Scabior shook his mind inwardly as he had to remind himself that he was only feeling this because he knew that if anything happened to her before he could turn both her and her friends in, then his chance at a life of fortune would be squashed.

_It's only a job..._

His eyes closed as he recalled the way her soft skin had felt against his hands and lips, the way she was able to meet his kiss without backing down in any way.

His memory relapsed to what something she had told him how her doe-brown eyes had lit up with fire.

_"It doesn't matter who you are, or what you've done. You're still a human being and nobody deserves to die; not that way."_

His eyes opened again.

_"Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?"_

_"Yes."_

The way she answered, there was no hesitation.

Was it really possible for people to get a second chance, even for him?

After all of the wrong that he had done, for the things he was responsible for, did he really deserve a second chance?

He lifted his head upward to look at the sky, only to see that it was blocked from his vision by the branches of the trees overhead.

Scabior's eyes narrowed.

No, he _didn't_.

He had to quit thinking of such ridiculous things.

He had a job to do.

* * *

><p>Hermione kept running and running, even when her legs were hurting and her lungs felt like they were going to collapse. She kept running.<p>

Scabior _knew_ who she really was.

He knew that she wasn't a halfblood named Penelope Clearwater, but that she was Hermione Granger, the mudblood known to be traveling with Harry Potter, best friend.

She knew it was dangerous to go back to see him. How could she have been so stupid? He could have easily taken her right then and there and she would've been defenseless against him or perhaps a whole entire gang of snatchers. Even if Ron's wand was in her pocket, there was no way she would've been fast enough to defend herself.

And she had been _snogging _him. She could've possibly gone as far as lost her virginity to the very man that had the power to take away everything from her.

_No more Hermione. No more._

She had to stop getting sidetracked and worry about the safety of her two friends. She had already done enough to put them at risk and it had to stop.

Right then, Hermione busted through the tents entrance and could see both Harry and Ron look up from their chess game to her alarmingly as they took in her flustered, out of breath, appearance.

She swallowed three gulps of air and before either of them could get out any words she shouted:

"We're moving to a different location _now_."

Both of the two males were smart enough to do what was being said and ask questions later. Going through this drill a few times before, all of them had their wands out - after Hermione had tossed Ron his wand - and began to pack everything up as quick as they could and shoved it down her bag in haste.

As the last of the enchantments had faded away, their entire campsite was exposed to anyone who would come their way but there was no longer a campsite.

Instead, there were two wizards and one witch standing in the middle of the forest.

All three of them grabbed each others hands, casting one last quick look around themselves before twisting away from sight.

Of course, it had gone without their notice of a dark silhouette standing just behind the treeline, watching their every move from the time Hermione had disappeared behind the wards to when the Golden Trio had apparated from the dark forest.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** **Whoever could that dark silhouette be? Greyback? Scabior? OR SOMEONE ELSE? I guess you'll have to wait and find out ;) I apologize that this chapter may be shorter than the others but I felt that I needed to get this part over with so I can move on with the plot and REALLY get the ball going. I guess that you can say that this chapter was my little "speed-bump" haha. The next chapter should be much longer and better, I promise!  
><strong>

**I'd like to thank you all for all of the reviews that I've received over the past few months and I really appreciate it all. If it weren't for so many reviews about this fic and encouraging me to continue, I don't think that there would be a chapter four right now. So please keep up with the reviews! They help motivate me. **

**To juniorjuice: ****I most certainly didn't choose Thor over Scabior. That's simply impossible. Besides, I fell in love with Loki, not Thor and I love both Scabior and Loki equally! I claim them both as my husbands ;D Haha, but I highly recommend that you watch Thor! It's a great movie :)**

**To Concerned but loving fan:** **No feelings were hurt my dear. You were completely right with everything you had said to me in your first message and it gave me a proper wake up call. Before your message I had been struggling with this chapter and procrastinated with it. With your message I fully understood that there are so many of you that really do want this fic to be updated. I shall try my hardest to balance both this pairing and Loki/Jane from now on. I just ask for a little patience for inspiration for this pairing is hard to come by anymore. **

**Thank you all for your support of this fic, I shall have chapter five up as soon as I can! Please keep the reviews going!**

**Have a wonderful day! **


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